AUTOMATITZACIO DE PROCESSOS I MEDIAMBIENT SL

Their core work

PROMAUT (whose full name translates from Catalan as "Process Automation and Environment") is a Spanish SME specialising in automated safety and inspection systems for railway infrastructure. Their core work involves developing systems that detect hazards, monitor track conditions, and enable autonomous inspection of rail networks — replacing or augmenting manual inspection processes with machine-based solutions. They have participated in both the design of automatic rail safety platforms and the deployment of autonomous scanning systems for track inspection. Despite their small size, they have operated as project coordinator on competitive EU Innovation Actions, indicating genuine technical leadership rather than a supporting role.

What they specialise in

How they've shifted over time

Both of PROMAUT's H2020 projects started within a single year of each other (2015–2016) and both address rail automation, so there is no meaningful shift in thematic focus across their EU project history. Their participation in two complementary rail projects simultaneously — one as coordinator, one as partner — suggests a deliberate strategy to build credibility and market position in rail inspection and safety automation during this period. With no projects recorded beyond 2018, it is unclear whether this work continued, scaled commercially, or was a time-limited EU-funded push.

Their entire EU project portfolio points in one direction — automated safety and inspection for railways — but with no projects after 2016, it is unclear whether this expertise has been commercially deployed or further developed beyond the EU-funded phase.

How they like to work

PROMAUT works in small, focused consortia — their projects involved only 4 unique partners across 3 countries, suggesting tight, purpose-built teams rather than large multi-partner programmes. Notably, they took on the coordinator role in their largest project (SDO-MET), which indicates confidence in project management alongside technical delivery. For a two-person or micro-SME scale company, leading a €1M SME Instrument Phase 2 project is a significant signal of organisational capability.

PROMAUT has collaborated with 4 unique partners across 3 countries, which is a very compact network for an H2020 participant. Their geographic reach appears limited to a small cluster of European partners, likely within the transport and rail technology ecosystem.

What sets them apart

PROMAUT occupies a specific niche at the intersection of industrial automation and railway safety — a combination that few pure software or pure rail engineering firms cover equally. As an SME that successfully led a Phase 2 SME Instrument grant (one of the most competitive H2020 funding lines), they have demonstrated that they can develop and commercialise innovation, not just research it. For consortium builders needing a technically credible SME partner with rail-specific automation expertise and prior coordinator experience, PROMAUT fits a role that larger firms or pure research organisations typically cannot fill.

Highlights from their portfolio

• SDO-MET
  Coordinator role on an SME Instrument Phase 2 grant worth over €1M — one of the most selective EU funding lines, reserved for SMEs with a credible commercialisation plan, making this a strong signal of technical and business maturity.
• AutoScan
  Participation in an Innovation Action focused on autonomous rail inspection systems, showing PROMAUT's ability to contribute specialist automation expertise within larger consortia alongside their own led projects.